Register engaging mechanism



Feb. 11, 1958 R. w. PrrM-AN REGISTER ENGAGING MECHANISM Original Filed Nov. 3, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l Il AT TOR/VE V Feb. 11, 1958 R. w. PITMAN y 2,822,976

REGISTER ENGAGING MECHANISM Original Filed Nov. 3, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TYPEBARS REGISTER ENTRIES REGISTER TOTAL CARRYOVER PRINTING ATTORNEY United States Patent O REGISTER EN GAGIN G MECHANISM Richard W. Pitman, Hillcrest, Pa., assignor to Underwood Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Original application November 3, 1954, Serial No. 466,645. Divided and this application December 12, 1955, Serial No. 552,478

This' invention relates to improvements in a ten key adding machine, and more particularly to improvementsl for simplifying the construction of such a machine.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 466,645 filed November 3, 1954 and titled, Ten Key Adding Machines.

p Ten key adding machines are well known and have been on the market for many years with many companies marketing inexpensive machines which, generally, are stripped down versions of their higher priced motoroperated line. Such inexpensive machines are all manually operated since the-usual A. C.D. C. electric motors required to drive the machine are not economically possible at the competitive price level. The machine disclosed in this application is particularly designed to be powered by an inexpensive A. C. motor of the shaded pole type used for fans and similar light duties and may be constructed mainly of simple, automatically producible parts.

It is a major object of this invention to devise a ten key adding machine of a minimum number of parts, most of which are metal stampings.

It is also an object of this invention to produce an adding machine of the ten key type which is driven by ajrotary drive shaft and in which power absorbing connections are at a minimum so that a small, inexpensive type of motor may be used to drive the machine.

Another object is to develop an adding vmachine of the above type in which the mechanism is assembled in sections, each section being easily installed or removed, to enable simple and inexpensive assembling and servicing operations.

' A further object is the provision in such a small machine of a compact group of operating cams including a cam follower shiftable between a pair of earns.A

Still another object is the development of a pair of alternative function controlling cams with a cam follower shiftable between them and a simple device which will prevent return of the cam follower to its original position until the end of a cycle but which will not offer any resistance to shift of the cam followerbetween machine cycles.

Another object is the provision in such a set of cams with a shiftable cam follower of mechanism to release the follower from its cams at the end of a machine cycle to permit shifting of theV follower without rubbing on the cams.

Other objects will be in part obvious or pointed out in the following description and accompanying drawings o f a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a left elevation of the mechanism of the machine,

,Figure 2 is a vertical section taken on a front to rear line through the machine,

` ,Figure 3v is aplanview of the motor drive and the cycling clutch controls therefor,

Figure 4 is an isometric view of the register engaging cams and the zero eliminating control for total printing,

Figure 5 is a diagram showing the timing of the operating members.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The disclosed adding machine is of the well known ten key type and is driven by a rotary drive shaft cyclically energized by an electric motor and driving a group of cams. Numerical items are set up by the ten numeral keys in settable pins of a traveling pin carriage controlled in its travel by a key operated escapement. The set pins of the pin carriage limit, during a cycle, the travel of aligned type bars to present type at a printing line. A platen, a paper tape around the platen and an inked ribbon are then swung against the type bars to record the set up item on the tape and a register is engaged with a toothed portion of the type bar to enter the set up values in the register during the return of the bars to a home position. When the type bars are fully restored, the pin carriage is returned to a home position to reset any set pins in preparation for the succeeding entry.

The machine is also operable to print the total of accumulated amounts by engaging the register with the type bars prior to initial movement of the bars and utilizing the tens carry mechanism to arrest movement of the type bars at a number corresponding to that originally in the register.

In both item or total printing operations, the platen mechanism is so designed that the pressure exerted against the individual type bars will be substantially constant irrespective of the number of bars against which the platen presses. This is accomplished by mounting the platen in its frame at a slight angle from the printing line and arresting one end of the platen near the end of the printing stroke to elect a seriatim pressure on the bars.

More specifically, the operating mechanism is mounted on a framework comprising a base plate 15, Figure l, resiliently mounted on feet 16 and supporting right and left side plates 18 and 19, respectively, see also Figure 2.

The base 15 also supports a shaft 21, to be later described, in bearings 22.

Cycling mechanism The machine is driven by a rotary cycling mechanism engageable for one cycle of operation by motor keys in the keyboard. Referring to Figure 3, a shaft 24 of a motor, not shown, mounted on right side plate 18 has a gear 25 secured thereto to drive a gear 27 rotatable in side plate 18. A shaft 28 is slidably and rotatably mounted in a bearing 30 in side wall 19 and passes through the open axis of gear 27. Shaft 28 has a collar 31 secured thereto and also a clutch member 33 slidable thereon but prevented from rotating on the shaft by a pin 35 in shaft 28 engaging in hole 36 of the member 33 with a spring 34 between collar 31 and clutch member 33 to yieldably hold member 33 to the right. Clutch member 33 and the hub of gear 27 have mating teeth formed thereon to provide driving engagement between these parts when shaft 28 is moved to the right.

Secured to the left end of shaft 28 outside plate 19 are a grooved collar 38 and a gear 39. Gear 39 meshes with a large gear 41 rotatable on a stud 42 secured in left side Wall 19. A plurality of cams to operate the other machine elements are mounted on a boss 43 secured to the left side of gear 41 which also carries a ring 44 secured to its inner side.

A machine cycle may be initiated by depression of a motor bar 45, a total key 47, or a repeat key 48, see also Figures l and 2, each of which keys has a lug engageable with ears on a rockable plate 58 pivoted in spacer bars 51 of the keyboard. Plate 50 has a rearward extending arm 53 which will when plate 50 is rocked by operation of a key, engage a cam edge of a trip link 54 mounted outside of plate 19 on a stud 55 in plate 19. A spring 57 on stud 55 presses the forward part of link 54 against side plate 19 which has a slot therein to allow the cam edge of link 54 to pass through into contact with arm 53 of plate 56. The rear end of link 54 is bent outwardly and engages in the groove of collar 38 with the bend line serving as a rocking fulcrum on plate 19. A bent off ear 58 of link 54 is ynormally engaged in a notch of ring 44 to hold gear 41 in a home position. When any motor key is operated, link 54 is rocked about its fulcrum on plate 19 to remove ear 58 from the notch of ring 44 and to shift shaft 28 rightwardly to engage the teeth of member 33 andgear 27. The right end of shaft 28 when moved rightwardly is utilized to close a switch, not shown, to energize the driving motor and thereby start rotation of shaft 28 and gear 41. As soon as gear 41 starts rotating, clockwise in Figure ll the notch of ring 44 moves away from ear 58 and upon release of the operated key, the ring 44 maintains link 54 in its operated position until gear 41 completes a full revolution and ear 58 can again drop into the notch to disconnect clutch member 33 from gear 27 and de-energize the motor.

Type bars The machine is provided with a plurality of type bars 60, Figure 2, one for each denominational order, arranged for sliding movement on a plate 61 secured between side plates 18 and 19. Each type bar 60 has at its forward end a tail 62 passing downwardly through a slot in plate 61 and an upwardly extending ear 64 to limit movement of the bars 60 during item entry operations. The type bars are each formed with a rack and a notch in their upper surfaces and each has secured thereto a type bearing plate 65. A spring 66 is connected between each'type bar tail 62 and the rear edge of plate 61 to urge the bars rearwardly but the bars 60 are normally restrained in their forward position by a plate 68 engaging the tails 62 and guided in slots 69, see also Figure l, in plates 18 and 19. VThe rear end of plate 68 is pivoted on an arm 7d secured to shaft 21 on base 15. Another arm 72 on the left end of shaft 21 is connected by a link 73 to a cam follower 74 pivoted on a stud 76 in side plate 19 and urged clockwise by'a spring 7.7 into contact with a cam 78 secured to gear 41. As may be seen from the first line of the timing diagram Figure 5, the cam 78 during a rotation of gear 41 will rst release the type bars 60 for movement to align their "O" type at the printing line and then after a short pause will release bars 60 for further rearward movement until they are diiferentially arrested by pins 82 set by digit keys 80. During the second half of a revolution of cam 78, bar 68 will be i driven forward to rst return all type bars to the position and again after a short pause, to restore bars 60 to their normal forward position.

Item ser up mechanism The rearward movement of type bars 60 to print and register an item is controlled by a set of digit keys 8i) and a shiftable pin carriage 81 carrying a plurality of rows of pins 82, see Figure 2, as is fully set out in the parent application Serial No. 466,645 supra.

Printing mechanism To make a record of the items entered and totals thereof, a rockable platen is provided to press a record tapeY f1 frame 138 clockwise in Figure l to hold a cam follower arm 142 against a printing cam 143 secured to gear 41. As may be seen from the last line of Figure 5, cam 143 operates to move platen 136 against the type bars 60 after the bars 6G have been set to align the selected type of plate 6d at the printing line. h

A roll of record tape 147, Figures l and 2, 1s supported on a shaft 149 removably held in rear extensions of plates 18 and 19 with the tape passing from the roll to the bottom of the platen 136 against which itV isV held by feed rolls 158 supported by leaf springs 151 secured to platen frame 138. A paper guide 153 also tixed to frame 138 guides the tape to the top of the platen 136 from where it is led under a tear off strip 154 above shaft 14u. The platen 136 is rotated to advance the tape 147 to a fresh printing position during each machine cycle by a ratchet wheel 155 on the right end of platen shaft 137 and a pawl 156 pivoted on side plate 18 and urged by a spring 158 into engagement with ratchet 155. During the downward movement of platen 136 after printing, pawl 156 engages in a tooth of wheel 155 to turn the wheel one tooth space and thus advance the tape 147 for the next machine cycle.

An inked ribbon 159 passes between the tape 147 and the type bars 60 to provide the ink for printing. This tape is wound between two ribbon spools 160 rotatable on studs 162 mounted on lower extensions of the platen frame 138 and passing through slots 163 in the side walls 18 and 19. Each spool 160 is engageable with a ratchet wheel 16.4.outside of the adjacent side wall and rotatably held on stud 162 by a snap washer 165 engaged in a slot of stud 162. The ribbon is automatically fed between the two spools 160 across the. printing line of platen 136 by the mechanism fully set out in,V the above noted parent application.

Item entry registration A register mechanism is provided to sum up the items entered by key 80. The frame for the register comprises a U-shaped member 178, Figure 2, pivoted in the side frames 18 and 19 by ears 179 secured to frame 1 78. Secured to the bottom of frame 178 is a bracket 181 having forwardly extending arms in which is mounted a shaft 182 rotatably supporting a plurality of register wheels 1,83. Frame 17S is rockable about its pivots 179 to engage registerwheels 183 with racks 185 cut in the upper surfaces of type bars 60 to enable rotation of wheels 183.

A slotted leaf spring detent 186 is secured to the upper part of frame 178 and is bent into engagement with the teeth of wheels 183 to yieldably hold the wheels 183 in any set position. Y

A tens transfer mechanism to move the next higher denomination wheel 183one additional step whenever a wheel 183 passes from its 9 toits 0 position is provided in frame 178. The tens carry mechanism comprises, for each order, a slide 187 anda spring 189. Each slide 187 isv slidable in slots in frame 178 between, a pair of wheels 183. The slides are slidably retained in the slots of frame 178 by a stop plate 188 at the bottom and a bracket 190, secured to the top of frame 178 and are urged downwardly by their springs 189.. Normally, the slides are retained in their Figure 2 positions by the engagement of a shoulder 191 on the slides with stop plate 188 until during the rotation of a numeral wheel v183 between its "9 and "0 positions, a wide tooth 193 of a wheel contactsa cam surface 194 on slide v187 to move the bottomY end rearwardly off of stop plate188 permitting spring 189 to move the slide 187 .downwardly until a nose 195 at the top of thel slide contacts a restoring bail 196. When bail 196 is moved downwardly to permit slide 187 to move to its lowest extent, aptooth 199 extending to the left from slide 187 wille'ngage a tooth of the next higher denominational wheel 183 to move it one space. If another slide 187 is released by such movementof a wheel 183, it will be free to moveV downwardly and transfer to the next higher wheel 183.

The restoring bail 196 is secured to a shaft 200 pivoted in arms 201 secured to frame 178. On the left end of shaft 200 is a cam follower arm 203, Figure 1, tensioned clockwise by a spring 204 around shaft 200 into contact with a cam 205 secured to gear 41. The movement of bail 196 by cam 205 is as shown in the fourth line of Figure 13 wherein slides 187 are shown as held in their restored positions until the register wheels 183 are engaged with racks 185 after which the slides are freed for movement to a set position by the wheels 183 which move from their "9 to "0 position. After the wheels 183 are removed from racks 185, the bail 196 is lowered to permit the slides 187 to drop to their lower position for carry overs after which bail 196 is again raised to restore slides to their reset positions wherein their shoulders 191 are resting on stop plate 188. The double levels in the restored and set slides positions are to compensate for the movements which frame 178 may make in engaging and disengaging register wheels 183 with racks 185 and do not represent any effective movement of bail 196.

Register engaging mechanism The register wheels 183 are rocked into engagement with the racks 185 by the mechanism shown in Figures l and 4. A link 207 pivoted on restoring shaft 200 is connected to a cam follower 208 pivoted on stud 76 and is urged forwardly by a spring 209. Also pivoted on stud 76 and connected to cam follower 208 by a stud 211 on follower 208 passing through a hole therein is a cam follower 212 slidable on stud 76 and urged toward side wall 19 by a compression spring 213. Cam follower 208 is held counterclockwise at the home position of gear 41, Figure 1, by a cam 215 secured to gear 41 to hold cam follower 212 free of its cams to enable easy shifting of follower 212 on stud 76. During a machine cycle, cam follower 208 does not follow its cam 215 and is controlled by follower 212.

Cam follower 212 is axially shiftable as above noted to engage either of two cams, an adding cam 216 and a total cam 217, both cams being secured to boss 43 of gear 41 with a slotted blocking plate 219, Figure 1, between them. Blocking plate 219 is not shown in Figure 7 in order that the outline of cam 216 will not be obscured but lies between the two cams 216 and 217 with its slot aligned with the nose of follower 212 as shown in Figure 1. For adding cycles, follower 212 engages cam 216 and through its connection to follower 208 and link 207 will shift the register frame 178 as shown on the second line of Figure 13, that is, to engage the register wheels 183 with racks 185 during the return movement of type bars 60 between their set and their 0 positions. Such register engagement will enable the number set up on type bars 60 to be entered into wheels 183.

When it is desired to print the total of the entered items, the total key 47 is depressed. This key 47 is formed with an inclined ear 220, Figure 4, and when depressed will, in addition to starting a machine cycle as previously described, swing an arm 221 about its pivot in plates 85. Arm 221 abuts the right edge of cam follower 212 and when key 47 is depressed will move follower 212 to the left through a slot in blocking plate 219 into engagement with cam 217. During the ensuing cycle, cam 217 will cause the register wheel 183 to be engaged with racks 185 in the total timing shown inthe third line of Figure 5, that is, during the rearward stroke of type bars 60 from their` 0 toward the 9 position. Blocking plate 219 prevents cam follower 212 from moving back to the add position despite a release of total key 47 before the end of a machine cycle.

During such rearward movement of type bars 60, the wheels 183 are rotated reversely until their wide teeth .6 193 are individually engaged by the lower edges'of cam surfaces 194 on slides 187 which engagement arrests the wheels 183 at 0 and type bars 60 at a position corresponding to the initial setting of wheels 183 as is well known. The platen 136 will thereafter be driven as set out above to print on tape 147 the item total.

Total key 47 when depressed for a total cycle causes the release of all of the type bars 60. As shown in Figure l, blocking plate 94 for type bars 60 is pivoted on bracket 93 of pin carriage 81 and underlies key 47 so that depression of total key 47 will lift the forward end of plate 94 and permit free rearward movement of type bars 60 during the machine cycle.

The above description of the preferred embodiment of my invention is not to be taken in a limiting sense as substantial modifications and variations of structure are possible without departure from the invention as set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an adding machine of the class described having a register, a plurality of rack bars with which said register is engageable to receive entries therefrom and to control the extent of movement of said racks in total taking operations, a cyclically operable mechanism to engage said register with said racks at different times during a machine cycle, said cyclic mechanism comprising resilient means to move said register into mesh with said racks, an oscillatable cam follower connected to said register, a first cam engaged by said cam follower to hold said register disengaged at the rest position of said cam, a cam lever oscillatable with said cam follower and axially slidable with respect thereto, an adding cam to control movement of said cam lever and cam follower when said first cam releases said follower during a machine cycle, thereby determining engagement of said register with said racks in item entry cycles, a total cam to control movement of said lever and follower during total taking cycles, a total control mechanism to move said cam lever axially into alignment with said total cam and a disc between said adding and total cams, said disc having a notch therein aligned with said cam lever in the home position of said cams to prevent movement of said cam lever between its axial positions during a machine cycle.

2. In an adding machine of the class described having a register, and a plurality of differentially controllable rack bars with which said register is engageable in item entry and total cycles, the combination of a cyclically driven member, a first cam rotatable by said cyclically driven member, a first cam follower yieldingly driven to follow said first cam, a member connecting said first cam follower and said register to move said register into engagement with said rack bars as said follower is freed by said first cam, a second cam coaxial with and connected to said first cam, a second cam follower connected to said first cam follower for movement therewith and with respect thereto in the direction of the axis of rotation of said cams, means yieldingly urging said second cam follower into alignment with said second cam, a third cam connected to said first and second cams, a total control member operable to shift said second cam follower into alignment with said third cam, and means driven by said cyclically driven member to retain said second cam follower in either position during a cycle of said cyclically driven member.

3. In an adding machine of the class described having a register, and a plurality of differentially controllable rack bars with which said register is engageable in item entry and total cycles, the combination of a rotary cyclically driven member, a plurality of rotatable cams secured to said driven member, a first cam follower yieldingly driven to engage a first cam of said rotatable cams, a second cam follower connected to said first cam follower and selectively engageable with a second or a third of said plurality of rotatable cams, said first cam engaging said first cam follower to hold said second cam follower "7 from' engagement with either saidsecond vor s aid'thfd cam at the end of a cycle of said cyclically driven member', Vmeansyieldingiy urging said second cam followerv into alignment with said second cam, a cycle initiating member operable to shift said second cam follower into alignment with said third cam, said first cam and said first cam followei` being effective to release said second cam follower for engagement with its aligned cam at the beginning of a cycle of said cyclically driven member,

and means intermediate said second earn and. said. Cam t0 retain said second eenlfollcwer in either selected.v

position until, said cyclcally Operated member returns t0 its-rest-postien. Y'

References Cited in the n le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,110,987 v K amnlcl Mar. l5, 1938 

